16th century in literature
See also: 16th century in poetry, 15th century in literature, other events of the 16th century, 17th century in literature, list of years in literature. Events 1508 **April 4 - John Lydgate's The Complaint of the Black Knight becomes the first known book printed in Scotland. 1513 ** Johannes Potken publishes the first Ge'ez text, Psalterium David et Cantica aliqua, at Rome. 1519 **Apokopos by Bergadis, the first book in Modern Greek is printed in Venice. 1539 **Marie Dentière writes an open letter to Marguerite of Navarre, sister of the King of France; the Epistre tres utile, or "very useful letter", calls for an expulsion of Catholic clergy from France. 1565 **Torquato Tasso enters the service of Cardinal Luigi d'Este at Ferrara. 1567 **October 14 - António Ferreira becomes Desembargador da Casa do Civel and leaves Coimbra for Lisbon. 1571 **Michel de Montaigne retires from public life and isolates himself in the tower of the Château de Montaigne. 1572 **English law eliminates actors' companies lacking formal patronage, by labelling them "vagabonds". 1575 **Sir Philip Sidney meets Penelope Devereaux, the inspiration for his Astrophel and Stella. 1576 **James Burbage builds The Theatre, the first permanent public playhouse in London, to open the great age of Elizabethan drama. 1590 **A troupe of boy actors, the Children of Paul's, are suppressed because of their playwright John Lyly's role in the Marprelate controversy. 1597 **Ben Jonson is briefly jailed in Marshalsea Prison, after the suppression of his play, The Isle of Dogs. 1598 **September 22 - Ben Jonson kills actor Gabriel Spenser in a duel; he is convicted of manslaughter and imprisoned in Newgate Prison. New books 1501 **''The Book of Margery Kempe'' (posthumous) **Marko Marulić - Judita 1503 **William Dunbar - The Thrissill and the Rois 1505 **Georges Chastellain - Récollections des merveilles advenues en mon temps (posthumous) **Stephen Hawes ***''The Passtyme of Pleasure'' ***''The Temple of Glass'' 1508 **William Dunbar - The Goldyn Targe 1509 **Erasmus - In Praise of Folly 1512 **Henry Medwall - Fulgens and Lucrece **Huldrych Zwingli - De Gestis inter Gallos et Helvetios relatio 1513 **First translation of Virgil's Aeneid into English language (Scots dialect) by Gavin Douglas 1514-15 **Gian Giorgio Trissino - Sofonisba 1515 **Robert Fabyan - The New Chronicles of England and France 1516 **Thomas More - Utopia 1517 **Francysk Skaryna's Bible translation and printing **Teofilo Folengo's Baldo, a popular Italian work of comedy. 1524 **Philippe de Commines - Mémoires (Part 1: Books 1-6); first publication (Paris) 1526 **William Tyndale's New Testament translation 1527 **Hector Boece - Historia Scotorum **Philippe de Commines - Mémoires (Part 2: Books 7-8); first publication 1528 **Baltissare Castiglione - The Book of the Courtier 1531 **Michael Servetus - De trinitatis erroribus ("On the Errors of the Trinity") 1532 **Niccolò Machiavelli - The Prince **François Rabelais - Pantagruel **Feliciano de Silva - Don Florisel de Niquea 1534 **Martin Luther's Bible translation **François Rabelais - Gargantua **Polydore Vergil - Historia Anglica 1535 **John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners - Huon of Bordeaux 1536 **John Calvin - Institutes of the Christian Religion (in Latin) 1538 **Hélisenne de Crenne - Les Angoisses douloureuses qui procèdent d'amours 1539 **Sir Thomas Elyot - The Castel of Helth 1540 **''Historia Scotorum'' of Hector Boece, translated into vernacular Scots by John Bellenden at the special request of James V of Scotland 1541 **George Buchanan ***''Baptistes'' ***''Jephtha'' 1542 **Paul Fagius - Liber Fidei seu Veritatis **Edward Hall - The Union of the Two Noble and Illustrate Famelies of Lancastre & Yorke 1543 **Andreas Vesalius - De humani corporis fabrica libri septem (On the Fabric of the Human body in Seven Books) **Nicolaus Copernicus - De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolution of the Heavenly Spheres) 1545 **Roger Ascham - Toxophilus **Bernard Etxepare - Linguae Vasconum Primitiae **Queen Katherine Parr - Prayers and Meditations; became the first book published by an English queen under her own name. 1546 **François Rabelais - Le tiers livre 1547 **Martynas Mažvydas - The Simple Words of Catechism (first printed book in Lithuanian language) **Queen Katherine Parr - The Lamentation of a Sinner 1549 **Johannes Aal - Johannes der Täufer (St. John Baptist) **''The Complaynt of Scotland'' 1550 **Martin Bucer - De regno Christi **''The Facetious Nights of Straparola'' published in Italian. The first European storybook to contain fairy-tales. 1552 **François Rabelais - Le quart livre **Gerónimo de Santa Fe - Hebræomastix (posthumous) **''Libellus de Medicinalibus Indorum Herbis (Little Book of the Medicinal Herbs of the Indians), composed in Nahuatl by Martín de la Cruz and translated into Latin by Juan Badiano. 1553 **Francesco Patrizi - ''La Città felice ("The Happy City") 1554 **anon - Lazarillo de Tormes 1559 **The Elizabethan version of the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England, which remained in use until the mid-17th century and was the first English Prayer Book in America. **Jorge de Montemayor - Diana 1560 **Jacques Grévin - Jules César **William Whittingham, Anthony Gilby, Thomas Sampson - Geneva Bible 1562 **William Bullein - Bullein's Bulwarke of Defence againste all Sicknes, Sornes, and Woundes 1563 **John Foxe - Foxe's Book of Martyrs 1564 **John Dee - Monas Hieroglyphica 1565 **Camillo Porzio - La Congiura dei baroni 1567 **Joan Perez de Lazarraga - Silbero, Silbia, Doristeo, and Sirena (MS in Basque language) 1569 **Alonso de Ercilla y Zúñiga - La Araucana, part 1 1571 **François de Belleforest - La Pyrénée (or La Pastorale amoureuse) (the first French "pastoral novel") 1572 **Friedrich Risner - Opticae thesaurus 1576 **Jean Boudin - Six livres de la République **George Pettie - A Petite Palace of Pettie His Pleasure **''The Paradise of Dainty Devices'', the most popular of the Elizabethan verse miscellanies 1577 **Richard Eden - The History of Travayle in the West and East Indies **Thomas Hill - The Gardener's Labyrinth **Raphael Holinshed - The Chronicles of England, Scotland and Irelande 1578 **George Best - A True Discourse of the Late Voyages of Discoverie…under the Conduct of Martin Frobisher **John Florio - First Fruits **Jaroš Griemiller - Rosarium philosophorum **Gabriel Harvey - Smithus, vel Musarum lachrymae **John Lyly - Euphues: the Anatomy of Wit 1579 **Stephen Gosson - The Schoole of Abuse **Thomas Lodge - Honest Excuses 1582 **George Buchanan - Rerum Scoticarum Historia **Richard Hakluyt - Divers Voyages'' 1583 **Philip Stubbes - The Anatomy of Abuses 1584 **James VI of Scotland - Some Reulis and Cautelis **David Powel - Historie of Cambria **Reginald Scot - The Discovery of Witchcraft 1585 **Miguel de Cervantes - La Galatea 1586 **John Knox - Historie of the Reformatioun of Religioun within the Realms of Scotland **John Lyly - Pappe with an hatchet, alias a figge for my Godsonne **George Puttenham (attr.) - The Arte of English Poesie **Luis Barahona de Soto - Primera parte de la Angélica 1588 **Thomas Hariot - A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia **Thomas Nashe - The Anatomie of Absurditie 1590 **Thomas Lodge - Rosalynde **Thomas Nashe - An Almond for a Parrat 1592 **Robert Greene - Greene's Groatsworth of Wit **Gabriel Harvey - Foure Letters and certaine Sonnets **Richard Johnson - Nine Worthies of London 1594 **Sir John Davys - The Seamans Secrets **Richard Hooker - Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie 1595 **Sir Philip Sidney (posthumous) - Defense of Poesy, a.k.a. An Apologie for Poetrie 1596 **Sir Walter Raleigh - The Discoverie of the Large, Rich and Beautiful Empyre of Guiana 1597 **Francis Bacon Essays 1598 **John Bodenham - Politeuphuia (Wits' Commonwealth) **King James VI of Scotland - The Trew Law of Free Monarchies **Francis Meres - Palladis Tamia, Wits Treasury **John Stow - Survey of London 1599 **John Bodenham - Wits' Theater New drama 1508 **''The World and the Child, also known as ''Mundas et Infans (probable date of composition) 1536 **Hans Ackermann - Der Verlorene Sohn 1541 **Giovanni Battista Giraldi - Orbecche 1551 **Marin Držić - Dundo Maroje 1553 **(about 1553) – Gammer Gurton's Needle and Ralph Roister Doister, the first comedies written in the English language **António Ferreira - Bristo 1562 **Thomas Norton and Thomas Sackville - ''Gorboduc'' **''Jack Juggler'' - anonymous, sometimes attributed to Nicholas Udall 1566 **George Gascoigne - Supposes 1567 **John Pickering - Horestes 1568 **Ulpian Fulwell - Like Will to Like 1573 **Torquato Tasso - Aminta 1582 **Giovanni Battista Guarini - Il pastor fido 1584 **John Lyly ***''Campaspe'' ***''Sapho and Phao'' **George Peele - The Arraignment of Paris **Robert Wilson - The Three Ladies of London (published) 1588 **George Peele - The Battle of Alcazar (performed) 1589 **''The Rare Triumphs of Love and Fortune'' - anonymous (published) 1590 **Christopher Marlowe - Tamburlaine (both parts published) **George Peele - Famous Chronicle of King Edward the First **Robert Wilson - The Three Lords and Three Ladies of London (published) 1591 **John Lyly - Endymion (published) **''The Troublesome Reign of King John'' - Anonymous (published) 1592 **Thomas Kyd - The Spanish Tragedy (published) **William Shakespeare - Henry VI, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 **''Arden of Faversham'' - anonymous (previously attributed to Shakespeare) 1594 **Samuel Daniel - Cleopatra **Robert Greene ***''Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay'' (published) ***''Orlando Furioso'' (published) **Thomas Lodge & Robert Greene - A Looking Glass for London (published) **Lope de Vega - El maestro de danzar - (The Dancing Master) **George Peele - The Battle of Alcazar (published) **William Shakespeare - Romeo and Juliet **Robert Wilson - The Cobbler's Prophecy (published) 1595 **''Locrine'' - Anonymous (published) 1597 **''The Isle of Dogs'' - Thomas Nashe & Ben Jonson **''Richard II'' - William Shakespeare (published) 1598 **Robert Greene - The Scottish Historie of James the Fourth (published) **Ben Jonson - Every Man in His Humour 1599 **Thomas Dekker - The Shoemaker's Holiday **Thomas Dekker, Henry Chettle, and William Haughton - Patient Grissel **Ben Jonson - Every Man Out of His Humour **William Shakespeare - Henry V New poetry 1514 **''The Aeneid'' -Francesco Maria Molzo's translation into Italian, in consecutive unrhymed verse (forerunner of Blank verse) 1550 **Sir Thomas Wyatt - Pentential Psalms 1557 **Giovanni Battista Giraldi - Ercole **''Tottel's Miscellany'' 1562 **''The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet'' - Arthur Brooke 1563 **Barnaby Googe - Eclogues, Epitaphs, and Sonnets 1567 **George Turberville - Epitaphs, Epigrams, Songs and Sonnets 1573 **George Gascoigne - A Hundred Sundry Flowers 1575 **Nicholas Breton - A Small Handful of Fragrant Flowers **George Gascoigne - The Posies 1576 **''The Paradise of Dainty Devices'', the most popular of the Elizabethan verse miscellanies 1577 **Nicholas Breton - The Works of a Young Wit and A Flourish upon Fancy 1579 **Edmund Spenser - The Shepherd's Calendar 1582 **Thomas Watson - Hekatompathia or Passionate Century of Love 1590 **Sir Philip Sidney - Arcadia **Edmund Spenser - The Faerie Queene, Books 1-3 1591 **Sir Philip Sidney - Astrophel and Stella (published posthumously) 1592 **Henry Constable - Diana : 1593 *Michael Drayton - The Shepherd's Garland **Giles Fletcher, the Elder - Licia 1594 **Michael Drayton - Peirs Gaveston 1595 **Thomas Campion - *''Poemata'' 1596 **Sir John Davies - Orchestra, or a Poeme of Dauncing **Michael Drayton - The Civell Warres of Edward the Second and the Barrons **Edmund Spenser - The Faerie Queene, Books 1-6 1597 **Michael Drayton - Englands Heroicall Epistles 1598 **Lope de Vega ***''La Arcadia'' ***''La Dragontea'' 1599 **Sir John Davies ***''Hymnes of Astraea'' ***''Nosce Teipsum'' **George Peele - The Love of King David and Faire Bethsabe Births * 1503 - Thomas Wyatt * 1508 - Primož Trubar, author of the first printed books in the Slovene language (d. 1586) * 1510 - Martynas Mažvydas * 1511 - Johannes Secundus (d. 1535) * 1514 - Daniele Barbaro (d. 1570) * 1515 - Roger Ascham * 1517 - Henry Howard * 1524 - Luís de Camões (d. 1580) * 1547 - Miguel de Cervantes (d. 1616) * 1551 - William Camden * 1554 - Philip Sidney * 1555 - Lancelot Andrewes * 1558 - Robert Greene * 1558 - Thomas Kyd * 1561 - Luís de Góngora y Argote, Spanish poet (d. 1627) * 1562 - Lope de Vega, Spanish poet and dramatist (d. 1635) * 1564 - Henry Chettle, English dramatist (d. 1607) * 1564 - Christopher Marlowe, English poet and dramatist (d. 1593) * 1564 - William Shakespeare, English poet and dramatist (d. 1616) * 1570 - Robert Aytoun * 1572 - Ben Jonson * 1576 - John Marston * 1577 - Robert Burton * 1581 - Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft * 1583 - Philip Massinger * 1587 - Joost van den Vondel * 1594 - James Howell Deaths * 1502 - Henry Medwall * 1513 - Robert Fabyan * 1519 - Anna Bülow * 1535 - Johannes Secundus (b. 1511) * 1542 - Thomas Wyatt * 1552 - Alexander Barclay * 1553 - Hanibal Lucić, Croatian poet and playwright (born c. 1485) * 1553 - François Rabelais * 1555 - Polydore Vergil * 1563 - John Bale * 1563 - Martynas Mažvydas * 1566 - Marco Girolamo Vida, Italian poet (b. 1485?) * 1568 - Roger Ascham * 1570 - Daniele Barbaro (b. 1514) * 1577 - George Gascoigne * 1586 - Primož Trubar, author of the first printed books in the Slovene language (b. 1508) * 1592 - Robert Greene * 1593 - Christopher Marlowe * 1594 - Thomas Kyd * 1595 - Luis Barahona de Soto See also * 16th century in poetry Literature Category:16th-century books Category:Renaissance literature Category:Early Modern literature